According to court documents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers discovered thousands of images and videos of child pornography on Reed's laptop computer during a secondary inspection of his luggage. At the time of the inspection, Reed was returning to Port Canaveral, Florida, aboard a cruise ship that had recently sailed to the Bahamas.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel W. Eckhart.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.